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ft 105 11 48 


Speak  without  being  afraid  that  the  wind  will  carry 
away  your  words  and  sow  them  in  fresh  soils. 

— Zola. 


The  Church  in  Politics- 
Americans,  Beware! 


A  Lecture  Delivered  Before 
the  Independent  Religious 
Society.  Orcheitrt  Hall. 
Chicago.  Sunday  at  II  A.  M. 


By 
M.  M.  MANGASAR1AN 


The  mass  of  the  law-abiding  and  re- 
spectable citizens  is  virtually  agnostic. 
Where  its  agnosticism  is  not  reasoned 
out,  it  is  habitual  and  unconcerned.  The 
orderly,  honest,  duty-doing  people  who 
never  think  about  religion  one  way  or 
the  other  form  by  far  the  largest  class 
in  the  community. 

— David  Christy  Murray. 


Stack 
Annex 


Clwrd)  in  politics— 

Americans',  ikluare! 

In  his  letter  on  religion  in  politics,  President  Roosevelt  takes 
the  position,  I  believe,  that  we  may  look  forward  to  the  day 
when  a  Catholic,  for  instanae,  may  be  nominated  and  elected 
to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States  of  America.  He  also 
intimates  that  to  refuse  to  vote  for  a  Catholic  on  account  of 
his  religion  would  be  bigotry!  The  Lutheran,  Baptist  and 
Presbyterian  bodies  have,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  officially  pro- 
tested against  the  president's  pronouncement.  These  Protestant 
churches  declare  that  it  is  not  fair  to  call  them  bigots  for  ob- 
jecting to  a  Catholic  for  president. 

Speaking  only  in  the  capacity  of  a  private  citizen,  it  is  my 
opinion  that,  according  to  the  Constitution,  a  Catholic  is  not 
eligible  to  be  a  candidate  for  president.  Neither  is  a  sincere 
and  consistent  Christian  of  any  other  denomination.  Nor  is 
a  believing  Jew.  The  Constitution  explicitly  ignores  the  reli- 
gious interests  of  the  nation  ;  it  does  not  even  so  much  as  men- 
tion the  name  of  God.  Had  the  document  been  created  by 
infidels  it  could  not  have  been  more  indifferent  to  the  subject 
of  church  or  religion.  The  Constitution  is  a  downright  secular 
instrument,  having  as  its  end  one,  and  only  one,  object  —  the 
rights  of  man.  But  the  supreme  end  of  the  church  is  God, 
not  man  ;  or  man  for  God.  There  is  then,  between  the  church 
and  the  Constitution,  an  irreconcilable  difference.  It  is  be- 
cause of  this  that  the  United  Presbyterians,  for  instance,  who 
have  a  membership  of  about  a  million,  refuse  even  to  take  part 
in  elections,  much  less  to  accept  office  under  a  government 
that  deliberately  ignores  the  Christian  religion,  as  well  as 
every  other  religion.  I  submit  that  the  United  Presbyterians 
are  quite  consistent,  and  that  they  deserve  the  respect  of  all 


1051148 


who  hold  that  courage  and  sincerity  are  better  than  ambiguity 
and  inconsistency.  A  Christian,  therefore,  can  accept  a  nomi- 
nation to  the  presidency,  for  instance,  only  by  either  stultifying 
himself  and  belittling  his  church,  or  by  disregarding  the  Con- 
stitution, its  spirit  as  well  as  its  letter. 

Nor  would  it  be  "bigotry"  to  contend  that  a  Protestant  or 
a  Catholic  candidate,  to  whom  God  is  first  and  country  sec- 
ond, should  under  no  circumstances  be  voted  into  presidential 
power  and  influence.  Even  as  it  would  not  be  an  act  of  intol- 
erance to  deny  the  presidency  of  this  country  to  a  foreign- 
born  citizen,  it  would  not  be  intolerant  to  deny  it  to  Catholics, 
for  example.  They  are  simply  not  eligible.  Both  Protestant 
and  Catholic  ought  to  say,  when  invited  to  the  office,  that 
they  can  not  conscientiously  swear  to  maintain  a  Constitution 
which  fails  in  its  duties  to  the  Creator,  and  that  if  elected  they 
will  obey  God  rather  than  the  Constitution,  for  a  Christian 
can  not  serve  two  masters,  neither  can  he  be  a  Christian  and 
not  a  Christian  at  the  same  time.  I  am  going  to  quote  a  page 
from  the  history  of  modern  France,  to  show  that  that  is  pre- 
cisely what  the  Catholic,  at  least,  does  when  he  comes  into 
power — he  obeys  God,  that  is  to  say,  the  church,  and  forgets 
all  about  the  Constitution,  that  is  to  say,  the  rights  of  man. 

France  has  been  a  turbulent  country.  Its  political  weather 
has  been  more  frequently  stormy  than  fair.  It  makes  one 
nervous,  almost,  to  read  the  history  of  France — it  is  so  sen- 
sational. Its  pages  are  lit  up  with  the  lightning.  It  is  a  sad 
and  shocking  story  of  intrigues,  plots,  conspiracies,  treason, 
machination,  finesse, — of  manoeuvre  and  scandal,  of  sudden 
strokes  and  startling  surprises,  which  have  alternately  cooled 
and  heated  the  brain  of  the  nation,  and  which  have  cultivated 
in  the  people  the  unhealthy  craving  for  excitement. 

Let  it  be  admitted  that  the  temperament  of  the  people,  its 
irritability  or  impetuousity,  is  in  a  measure  responsible  for 
this.  But  this  in  itself  is  not  enough  to  explain  the  terrible 
punishments  and  misfortunes  which  have  fallen  upon  that 
nation.  You  are  all  familiar  with  the  remark  of  one  of  her 
great  statesmen,  Gambetta:  "The  enemy,  it  is  clericalism." 

Another  statesman,  Paul  Bert,  said :    "It  is  not  our  domestic 


discords ;  it  is  not  England ;  nor  even  the  trained  German 
legions,  that  constitute  the  greatest  menace  to  Frenchmen  and 
the  prosperity  of  France,  still  bleeding  from  her  wounds,  but 
the  man  in  black."  Did  these  statesmen  speak  the  truth?  We 
shall  ask  history  to  answer  the  question.  This  much,  however, 
we  can  say  without  consulting  history,  that  today  the  French 
republic  and  the  Catholic  church  are  at  swords'  points.  After 
trying  to  pull  together,  church  and  state  have  separated — are 
completely  divorced,  and  each  suspects  and  fears  the  other. 
Let  us  try  to  explain  the  strained  relations  between  Rome  and 
the  French  republic  by  a  reference  to  the  events  in  France 
from  the  time  of  the  second  republic  to  the  Franco-Prussian 
war. 

In  1848.  after  many  attempts  to  maintain  the  monarchy, 
France  returned  to  the  republican  form  of  government.  The 
Catholic  church,  alway^  powerful  in  the  country,  and  having 
great  interests  at  stake,  to  the  surprise  of  the  nation,  welcomed 
the  republic  with  enthusiasm.  The  Archbishop  of  Cambrai, 
the  bishops  of  Gap,  of  Chalons,  of  Nancy,  and  the  Catholic 
periodical-,  I' I'nii'crs,  the  Monitcur.  etc.,  declared  that  the  re- 
publican form  of  government  was  of  divine  origin,  and  that 
there  were  no  other  three  words  in  all  the  world  more  sacred 
than  the  words  "Liberty,  Fquality,  Fraternity."  In  all  the 
churches  high  mass  was  celebrated,  and  a  Te  Deum  chanted  in 
honor  of  the  new  regime.  "There  are  no  more  devoted  and 
sincere  republicans  in  France  than  the  Catholics,"  wrote  Veuil- 
lot  in  rUnircrs,  the  organ  of  the  church.  In  asking  you  to 
keep  this  in  mind,  I  also  request  you  to  note  that  the  Catholic 
church  in  America  seems  to  be  today  just  as  devoted  to  the 
American  republic  as  the  French  Catholics  professed  to  be  to 
the  republic  of  1848.  But  let  us  not  forget  that  this  same 
clergy,  during  the  reign  of  the  first  Napoleon,  introduced  the 
following  questions  and  answers  into  every  church  catechism 
in  use  throughout  the  land : 

Question:     Why  are  we  under  obligations  to  our  emperor? 
Answer:     Because,  in  the  first  place,  God,  who  creates  em- 
pires and  distributes  them  according  to  his  pleasure,  in  bless- 
ing our  emperor,  both  in  peace  and  war,  has  set  him  over 


us  as  our  sovereign,  and  has  made  him  the  image  of  himself 
upon  the  earth.  To  honor  and  serve  the  emperor  is  then  to 
honor  and  serve  God. 

Question:  Are  there  not  special  reasons  why  we  are  most 
profoundly  indebted  to  Napoleon  the  First,  our  emperor? 

Answer:  Yes.  For  in  difficult  circumstances,  he  is  the 
man  whom  God  has  raised  up  to  re-establish  the  public  wor- 
ship of  the  holy  religion  of  our  fathers,  and  to  be  our  pro- 
tector. .  .  .  He  has  become  the  anointed  of  the  Lord  by  the 
consecration  of  the  pope,  the  head  of  the  Church  Universal. 

Question:  What  shall  be  thought  of  those  who  fail  in  their 
respect  to  our  emperor? 

Answer:  According  to  the  Apostle  Paul,  those  who  resist 
the  appointed  powers  shall  receive  eternal  damnation  to  their 
souls.* 

Of  course,  when  the  first  Napoleon  fell,  the  Catholic  church 
quickly  withdrew  from  circulation  the  catechism  from  which 
I  have  been  quoting.  It  was  after  considerable  effort  that  I 
was  able  to  secure  a  copy  of  the  work.  The  infallible  church, 
then,  was  for  Napoleon,  heart  and  soul,  as  long  as  he  was 
in  power.  Without  any  conscientious  scruples  whatever,  the 
church  hailed  the  tyrant,  whose  profession  was  wholesale 
murder  for  his  own  glory — as  the  "image  of  God  on  earth !" 
In  those  days  it  meant  "damnation"  not  to  accept  Napoleon 
as  the  anointed  of  heaven.  Such  a  guide  is  the  church! 

But  at  last  the  church  professed  to  be  converted  to  liberty. 

Now  we  are  in  a  position  to  appreciate  the  sudden  and 
complete  change  of  front  on  the  part  of  the  French  clergy. 
From  staunch  imperialists  they  had  been  converted,  judging 
by  their  professions,  to  the  principles  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion. An  era  of  peace  and  brotherhood  seemed  to  open  before 
that  much  troubled  country.  Priest  and  magistrate  had  both 
buried  the  hatchet;  church  and  school  would  now,  after  end- 
less disputation,  co-operate  in  the  work  of  education,  and  the 
vicar  of  Christ  and  the  president  of  the  republic  shall  join 
hands  in  the  service  of  the  people.  The  new  republic  prom- 


*Catechisme  a  L'Usage  de  Tantes  Lcs  Eglises  de  L'Empire  Francois. 
6 


ised  all  this.  The  skies  were  serene  and  clear,  and  the  church 
bells  rang  in  honor  of  the  era  that  had  just  dawned. 

Having  inaugurated  the  republic,  the  next  business  before 
the  country  was  the  election  of  a  president.  The  Catholic 
church,  having  disarmed  all  suspicion  and  given  tangible 
proofs  of  its  conversion  to  republicanism,  succeeded  in  nomi- 
nating its  own  candidate  to  the  presidency.  This  was  Louis 
Napoleon,  the  nephew  of  the  great  Napoleon.  To  elect  its 
nominee,  the  church  engaged  in  a  most  active  campaign ; 
sermons  were  delivered  in  every  church ;  a  house  to  house 
canvass  was  undertaken,  and  even  the  confessional  was  utilized 
to  secure  votes  for  "the  Star  of  France,"  as  they  called  Na- 
poleon. 

On  election  day,  each  priest  led  his  parishioners  to  the  vot- 
ing booth  and  saw  that  the  ballots  were  properly  deposited. 
The  result  was  that  Louis  Napoleon  was  elected  by  5,534,520 
votes,  out  of  a  total  of  7,426.252  votes  cast.  That  is  to  say, 
he  had  a  majority  of  nearly  three  millions 

What  made  Louis  Napoleon  a  favorite  with  the  church? 
To  answer  that  question  we  shall  have  to  step  onto  the  stage 
and  peep  behind  the  scenes.  But  to  see  what  was  transpiring 
behind  the  scenes  in  France  we  shall  have  to  go  to  Rome. 

About  the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of,  the  papal  states 
in  Italy  were  up  in  arms  against  the  pope,  who  at  this  time 
still  enjoyed  his  temporal  power.  He  was  still  both  priest 
and  king.  He  had  his  own  soldiers,  his  own  generals,  his 
cannons,  guns  and  powder.  He  went  to  war;  collected  taxes, 
administered  the  courts,  and  possessed  all  the  prerogatives  of 
a  secular  sovereign.  He  was,  of  course,  besides  all  this,  also 
the  vicar  of  Christ  on  earth.  Unfortunately,  like  any  other 
sovereign  of  those  days,  the  pope  oppressed  his  subjects,  and 
it  was  to  put  an  end  to  their  grievances  that  the  Italian  states 
revolted,  and  made  an  attempt  to  establish  a  republic  in  Rome. 
No  doubt  our  own  example  in  this  country,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  French,  encouraged  the  Italians  in  their  efforts  to  free 
themselves  from  oppression.  The  republican  movement  spread 
rapidly — like  the  rushing  waters  of  a  reservoir  that  had  at 
last  broken  loose.  The  whole  peninsula  was  athrill  with  new 


aspirations.  The  Italians  remembered  the  days  of  their  pagan 
ancestors  and  took  heart.  The  charmed  and  charming  words, 
"Liberty!  Constitution!"  were  upon  every  lip.  Soon  the 
heavens  would  beam  with  the  radiant  star  of  Garibaldi.  The 
movement  was  so  irresistible  that  the  pope,  Pius  IX,  was 
compelled  to  make  terms  with  the  leaders.  It  was  agreed 
that,  henceforth,  the  country,  instead  of  being  governed  ex- 
clusively by  the  clergy,  as  heretofore,  should  be  governed 
by  two  chambers,  the  members  to  one  of  which  should  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  pope;  the  members  to  the  other  should  be 
elected  by  the  people.  The  two  chambers,  however,  as  was 
to  be  expected,  could  not  get  along  together.  The  priests 
were  not  used  to  obeying,  they  were  used  to  commanding. 
They  obeyed  only  God.  Moreover,  the  secular  members  un- 
dertook to  interfere  in  church  matters,  which  the  priests  would 
not  tolerate,  although  they  themselves  never  refrained  from 
interfering  in  secular  matters.  The  deliberations  became  an- 
archic in  parliament.  The  priests  declared  they  repre- 
sented God  and  could  never  be  in  the  wrong.  Whoever  they 
may  have  meant  by  the  word  "God,"  he  was  invariably  on  the 
side  of  the  priests.  This,  the  other  members  declared,  was 
not  fair,  as  it  tied  up  their  hands  and  made  them  as  helpless 
as  the  delegates  to  a  Russian  Douma  are  today.  Things  went 
from  bad  to  worse;  murders  became  daily  occurrences.  The 
pope,  fearing  assassination,  fled  from  Rome.  His  departure 
was  hailed  with  joy.  Rome  unfurled  the  republican  flag  from 
the  dome  of  St.  Peter's.  The  pope  was  a  fugitive.  Rome 
was  free. 

To  crush  this  republican  movement  and  restore  the  run- 
away pope  to  his  throne,  the  church  needed  an  agent.  The 
agent  must  be  strong  enough  to  strangle  the  Italian  republic 
and  to  recover  for  the  pope  his  temporal  power.  Spain  was 
too  decrepit  to  be  summoned  to  the  task.  Austria  had  already 
too  much  of  Italy  in  her  grip;  the  only  nation  that  could 
disinterestedly  fight  for  the  pope  would  be  France. 

Observe  now  the  double  role  which  the  church  was  play- 
ing: In  France  she  was  an  ardent  republican,  in  Italy  she 
anathematized  the  republic  as  a  blasphemy  against  God.  In 


France  she  was  ringing  bells  in  honor  of  the  rights  of  man, 
in  Rome  she  was  firing  shot  and  shell  into  the  Italian  repub- 
licans. In  France  the  republic  was  of  divine  origin,  in 
Italy,  it  was  the  work  of  the  devil.  Let  us  state  it  frankly, 
the  church  was  a  republican  in  France,  not  from  love  but 
from  policy.  History  will  confirm  our  statement. 

But  we  have  not  yet  answered  why  Louis  Napoleon  was 
such  a  favorite  with  the  church.  On  the  eve  of  the  elections 
in  France,  Napoleon,  who  was  one  of  the  candidates  for  the 
presidency,  sent  a  letter  to  the  nuncio  of  the  pope  in  Paris,  in 
which  he  expressed  his  personal  opinion,  an  opinion  which 
at  the  time  looked  quite  harmless,  that,  for  the  peace  of  Italy 
and  the  prestige  of  the  Catholic  world,  the  temporal  power 
of  the  pope  should  In-  maintained.  Few  people  were  reflective 
enough  to  suspect  that  tlurc  was  in  those  words  a  pledge 
on  the  part  of  the  candidate  to  employ,  if  elected  to  the  presi- 
dency, the  resources  of  France  in  the  service  of  Rome. 

Naturally  enough,  not  long  after  his  election,  the  church 
called  upon  Napoleon  to  fulfill  his  promise.  But  to  make  a  prom- 
ise is  very  much  easier  than  to  fulfill  it.  How  was  the  presi- 
dent going  to  persuade  the  French  to  make  war  upon  a  sister 
republic  ?  It  was  clearly  to  the  interest  of  the  French  to  have 
the  republican  form  of  government  spread.  But  it  was  to 
the  interest  of  the  church  to  overthrow  the  Italian  republic 
and  restore  the  pope  to  the  Vatican.  The  French  must,  there- 
fore, prefer  the  interest  of  the  pope  to  the  interest  of  their  own 
country.  Americans  beware ! 

On  the  3Oth  of  March,  1849,  Louis  Napoleon  succeeded  in 
getting  a  favorable  vote  from  the  assembly  upon  the  follow- 
ing proposition:  "If  for  the  maintenance  of  the  integrity  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Piedmont,  and  for  the  preservation  of  the 
interests  and  honor  of  France,  the  executive  power  shall  deem 
it  necessary  for  the  enforcement  of  its  negotiations  to  occupy 
temporarily  any  given  point  in  Italy,  the  national  assembly 
shall  lend  him  its  cordial  and  effective  support."*  A  short 
time  after,  Napoleon  dispatched  to  Rome  a  force  under  the 


*L'Egl\se  et  La  France.    O.  Jouvin,  page  22. 
9 


command  of  Oudinat,  with  secret  instructions  to  reseat  the 
pope  on  his  apostolic  as  well  as  temporal  throne.  On  the 
3Oth  of  April  the  French  republican  army  opened  fire  on  the 
Italian  republicans  defending  Rome.  The  French  were  re- 
pulsed. When  the  news  of  the  disaster  to  the  French  forces 
reached  Paris  it  threw  the  country  into  a  state  of  delirium. 
Scarcely  anybody  not  in  the  conspiracy  had  suspected  that  the 
innocent  looking  measure  presented  to  the  assembly  by  the 
president  of  the  republic  really  authorized  the  declaration  of 
war  against  Italy;  and  no  one  so  much  as  imagined  that  "a 
given  point  in  Italy  "  meant  Rome,  or  that  "the  interests  and 
the  honor  of  France"  required  the  restoration  of  the  principle 
of  absolutism  in  Italy.  But  it  was  too  late;  the  assembly  had 
been  caught  in  a  trap.  The  disgrace  and  the  defeat  were 
matters  of  fact  which  could  not  be  undone. 

A  moment  ago  I  called  attention  to  the  double  role  of  the 
church.  I  now  ask  you  to  see  how  the  church  was  trying  to 
drag  the  French  nation  into  the  same  insincerity  and  duplicity. 
Think  of  a  nation  which  had  created  the  Revolution,  which 
had  overthrown  the  monarchy,  and  had  inscribed  upon  its 
banner  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity" — think  of  such  a  na- 
tion going  to  war  against  one  of  its  neighbors  for  following 
its  example!  The  creators  of  liberty  were  urged  to  become 
its  assassins.  Into  this  ludicrous,  absurd,  nay,  infamous  role, 
was  the  French  republic  dragged  by  Napoleon  and  the  power 
that  had  made  him  president  of  the  republic.  Americans 
beware ! 

On  the  29th  of  June  the  French  forces  made  a  second  at- 
tack upon  Rome,  putting  the  republicans  to  rout  and  restor- 
ing the  pope  to  the  Vatican,  whence  a  short  time  before  he 
had  fled  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  French  republic  has  now 
destroyed  the  Italian  republic.  The  words,  "Liberty,  Equal- 
ity," Fraternity,"  shall  no  longer  be  heard  in  Rome.  The 
republican  flag  has  been  taken  down  from  St.  Peter's.  The 
pope  is  king  again.  Mazzini,  Armellini,  Sana,  Garibaldi  and 
their  colleagues,  become  exiles.  France  refuses  them  an  asy- 
lum. France,  the  country  of  the  Revolution,  of  the  rights  of 
man,  of  the  republic  with  its  glorious  motto,  "Liberty,  Equal- 


ity,  Fraternity" — refuses  to  shelter  the  Italian  republicans! 
It  was  to  the  interest  of  France  to  give  these  men  the  hand 
of  fellowship ;  it  would  have  been  to  the  honor  and  glory  of 
France  to  have  opened  her  doors  to  these  deliverers  of  an 
oppressed  nation,  but  it  was  not  to  the  interest  of  the  church, 
and  the  church  comes  first;  France  must  be  sacrificed  to 
Rome.  Americans  beware ! 

The  Italian  patriots  crossed  the  channel  and  found  in  Pro- 
testant England  the  asylum  which  the  country  that  had  intro- 
duced the  republic  into  modern  Europe  denied  them. 

It  was  then  that  our  great  friend,  George  Jacob  Holyoake, 
opened  his  heart  and  his  home  to  the  patriots  of  Italy.  For 
many  years  and  at  frequent  intervals  both  Mazzini  and  Gari- 
baldi were  his  guests,  and  he  helped  to  win  for  them  the 
friendship  of  generous  men  who  raised  the  funds  to  continue 
the  rebellion,  which  was  ultimately  crowned  with  success. 
Pioneers !  O,  Pioneers ! 

I  can  not  think  of  these  brave  men  and  their  work  without 
recalling  Whitman's  bugle  call: 

Pioneers !     O,  Pioneers ! 
Till  with  sound  of  trumpet, 
Far,  far  off  the  daybreak  call — hark,  how  loud  and  clear 

I  hear  it  wind, 

Swift!  to  the  head  of  the  army! — swift!  spring  to  your  places, 
Pioneers!     O,  Pioneers! 

But  let  us  proceed : 

One  day,  somewhere  about  1852,  the  people  of  France, 
when  they  rose  in  the  morning,  found  that  their  republic  had 
disappeared.  Not  only  was  the  Italian  republic  no  more,  but 
the  French  republic  had  gone  too.  The  same  power  that  had 
driven  the  republicans  out  of  Rome  had  driven  them  out  of 
France.  As  if  by  a  sponge,  the  free  institutions  of  the  coun- 
try and  the  constitution,  were  wiped  out  by  one  sweep  of  the 
hand.  The  first  places  which,  after  this  coup  d'etat,  Napoleon 
III  visited,  were  the  churches.  He  walked  up  to  the  altar  in 
each  church  which  he  visited  on  his  triumphal  journey  through 
France,  and  knelt  down  for  prayer  and  worship.  How  did 
the  clergy  receive  him?  What  did  they  say  to  this  betrayer 


of  the  nation,  this  traitor,  who  had  violated  his  solemn  oath? 
Let  me  reproduce  the  words  of  the  oath  which  Napoleon  took 
on  the  day  of  his  inauguration  as  president  of  the  republic: 

"In  the  presence  of  God  and  before  the  people  of  France, 
I  solemnly  swear  to  remain  faithful  to  the  democratic  repub- 
lic, one  and  indivisible,  and  to  fulfill  all  the  duties  which  the 
Constitution  imposes  upon  me." 

What  did  the  church  say  to  this  man  who  had  trampled  the 
Constitution  of  the  country  under  his  feet,  and  had  commanded 
French  soldiers  to  fire  upon  Italian  republicans  in  the  streets 
of  Rome,  and  upon  French  republicans  in  the  streets  of  Paris? 
History  has  preserved  the  exact  words  of  bishops  and  cardi- 
nals addressed  to  Napoleon,  the  usurper:  "You,  sire,  have 
re-established  the  principle  of  authority,  as  indispensable  to 
the  church  as  it  is  to  the  state."  Again,  "How  can  we  worth- 
ily express  our  gratitude  to  a  sovereign  who  has  done  so 
much  for  religion !"  and  the  bishop  of  Grenoble  proceeds  to 
enumerate  the  services  of  Napoleon  to  the  church  :  The  restor- 
ation of  the  Pantheon  to  the  church,  which  an  impious  gov- 
ernment had  converted  to  secular  uses  by  dedicating  it  to 
the  atheist  poets  and  philosophers  of  France;  the  creation  of 
a  -national  fund  for  the  saying  of  mass  for  the  indigent  poor ; 
the  appointment  of  chaplains  on  all  vessels  flying  the  imperial 
flag ;  the  suggestion  of  a  pension  for  aged  priests ;  the  grant- 
ing of  perfect  liberty  of  action  to  the  ministers  of  the  church, 
which  liberty  of  action  the  church  will  use  to  confirm  the 
principle  of  authority  and  to  teach  the  nation  submission  to 
the  government  and  its  laws.  "Behold,"  cries  the  bishop, 
after  enumerating  these  benefits,  "our  reason  for  the  gratitude 
we  feel."  The  Cardinal  of  Bourges,  the  bishops  of  Mar- 
seilles, of  Frejus,  of  Aix,  of  Bordeaux,  of  Poitiers,  and,  in 
fact,  of  every  important  diocese  in  the  country,  in  the  same 
way  praised  Napoleon,  the  emperor,  and  declared  he  was  the 
special  messenger  of  heaven,  and  the  saviour  of  Christianity, 
"whom  God  will  never  forsake,  because  in  the  hour  when 
God's  vicar  on  earth  was  in  trouble,  he  saved  him  from  his 
enemies." 

They  called  Napoleon  a  Constantine,  a  Charlemagne.     And 


the  same  clergy  who,  a  few  years  ago,  had  pronounced  the 
words,  "Liberty,   Equality,   Fraternity,"  as  the  holiest  in  all 
the  world  were  now  busy  erasing  them  from  the  public  build- 
ings and  monuments  of  the  country.    If  the  republic  was  after 
"God's  own  heart,"  if  the  rights  of  man  were  first  proclaimed 
from  Calvary,  as  the  clergy  declared  during  the  republic,  why 
^"•"•"••'•••••^•••fcian  who  restored  oppres- 
they  not  sincere  when 

(l)  ft — CLx^T*  were  not  in  all  France 

>lics?     The  interest  of 
f  the   French  republic, 

/^,  t  of  the  church  is  first, 

ying  banners  on  which 
e   Rome   and   France." 

ntered  the  palace  of  the 
d  cries  of  the  populace, 
:ing  "Vive  I'Empereur," 
He  stood  between  King 
ishop  of  Paris  upon  his 
ugo  fled  from  Paris  for 
e  with  Napoleon ;  Victor 
are! 

i   schools   rapidly  passed 
ce  had  labored  sincerely 
the  schools  and  to  oust 
ared  that  "the  brains  of 
•d,  if  necessary,  to  make 
e  church."     Michelet,  the 
n  his  chair  in  the  College 
ost.    The  same  fate  over- 
ofessors  in  the  Sorbonne, 
bow  to  the  pope  and  his 
were  permitted  to  teach, 
sprang  up  everywhere  like 
aries  and  the  missionaries 
DUSV   in   the   acquisition   of 
property.     In  a  small  town,  suddenly,  as  it  were,  a  few  beg- 

13 


of  the  nation,  this  traitor,  who  had  violated  his  solemn  oath? 
Let  me  reproduce  the  words  of  the  oath  which  Napoleon  took 
on  the  day  of  his  inauguration  as  president  of  the  republic  : 

"In  the  presence  of  God  and  before  the  people  of  France, 
I  solemnly  swear  to  remain  faithful  to  the  democratic  repub- 
lic, one  and  indivisible,  and  to  fulfill  all  the  duties  which  the 
Constitution  imposes  uno"  ™*"  — 

What  did  the  churc 
Constitution  of  the  coi 
French  soldiers  to  fir. 

of  Rome,  and  upon  Fi  ^ 

History  has  preserved  02      « 

nals  addressed  to  Na  ^|  |L  *  3*. 

re-established  the  prii  <£  *  $ 

the  church  as  it  is  to  t  g^  J*.      n> 

ily  express  our  gratit  g-g  S 

much  for  religion!"  ai  s    P  ^      a- 

enumerate  the  services  ^    1  §*      « 

ation  of  the  Pantheon  ?|    jj  2.      §* 

ernment  had  convertec  ll    *  5»     J** 

the  atheist  poets  and  p      ,out       ^g.    ^  ^ 

a  -national  fund  for  the     tying       £§.   O 

the  appointment  of  chai  pg    §  K       * 

flag;  the  suggestion  of  1*    §  «       ^ 

ing  of  perfect  liberty  of  £. 

which  liberty  of  action  "3    W 

principle  of  authority  a  II    I 

the  government  and   it;  Sjf    f 

after  enumerating  these  eg    g 

we  feel."     The  Cardim  %* 

seilles,  of  Frejus,  of  Ai  I.* 

fact,  of  every  important  M  3t< 
way  praised  Napoleon,  ti  os  8? 
special  messenger  of  hea  £#  %3 
"whom  God  will  never  S  •  ^ 

God's  vicar  on  earth  wa:  __  — 

enemies." 


They  called  Napoleon  a  Constantine,  a  Charlemagne.     And 


the  same  clergy  who,  a  few  years  ago,  had  pronounced  the 
words,  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity,"  as  the  holiest  in  all 
the  world  were  now  busy  erasing  them  from  the  public  build- 
ings and  monuments  of  the  country.  If  the  republic  was  after 
"God's  own  heart,"  if  the  rights  of  man  were  first  proclaimed 
from  Calvary,  as  the  clergy  declared  during  the  republic,  why 
did  they  make  almost  a  saint  of  the  man  who  restored  oppres- 
sion and  absolutism  in  France?  Were  they  not  sincere  when 
they  published  in  the  papers  that  there  were  not  in  all  France 
more  loyal  republicans  than  the  Catholics?  The  interest  of 
the  church  required  the  overthrow  of  the  French  republic, 
as  it  did  of  the  Italian,  and  the  interest  of  the  church  is  first. 
Already  in  France  people  were  displaying  banners  on  which 
were  inscribed  the  words,  "God  save  Rome  and  France." 
Rome  first.  Americans  beware! 

On  the  i6th  of  October,  Napoleon  entered  the  palace  of  the 
Tuileries  as  emperor.  The  cheers  and  cries  of  the  populace, 
congregated  in  the  gardens  and  shouting  "Vive  I'Empereur," 
brought  him  out  upon  the  balcony.  He  stood  between  King 
Jerome  upon  his  left,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  upon  his 
right.  On  that  same  day  Victor  Hugo  fled  from  Paris  for 
his  life.  The  archbishop  in  the  palace  with  Napoleon;  Victor 
Hugo  in  exile!  My  countrymen,  beware! 

Under  the  Napoleonic  regime  the  schools  rapidly  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  clergy.  France  had  labored  sincerely 
and  made  many  sacrifices  to  reform  the  schools  and  to  oust 
the  priest — the  priest  who  had  declared  that  "the  brains  of 
young  Frenchmen  should  be  pinched,  if  necessary,  to  make 
them  obedient  to  the  authority  of  the  church."  Michelet,  the 
glorious  Michelet,  was  deposed  from  his  chair  in  the  College 
of  France  and  a  clerical  given  his  post.  The  same  fate  over- 
took Vacherot  and  Renan.  No  professors  in  the  Sorbomie, 
or  in  any  institution,  who  did  not  bow  to  the  pope  and  his 
creature  on  the  throne  of  France,  were  permitted  to  teach. 
Secret  orders  and  religious  schools  sprang  up  everywhere  like 
mushrooms  over-night.  The  emissaries  and  the  missionaries 
of  the  faith  became  exceedingly  busy  in  the  acquisition  of 
property.  In  a  small  town,  suddenly,  as  it  were,  a  few  beg- 

13 


garly  monks  and  nuns  make  their  appearance;  they  have  not 
where  to  lay  their  heads ;  the  community  has  to  provide  them 
with  the  necessaries  of  life.  A  short  time  after,  this  same 
religious  colony  is  in  possession  of  the  finest  establishments 
in  the  town,  with  long  bank  accounts  to  their  credit.  Wealth 
flows  into  their  coffers  from  rich  widows  and  dying  million- 
aires. Every  faithful  Catholic  leaves  his  estate  to  the  parish 
priest,  or  to  some  religious  order.  Property  accumulates  by 
leaps  and  jumps.  What  happens  in  one  town  happens  in  every 
other;  the  country  is  overrun  with  the  agents  of  a  foreign 
power.  The  church  is  making  hay  while  the  sun  shines.  As 
some  of  the  principles  of  free  government  were  still  in  force, 
even  with  Napoleon  on  the  throne,  these  religious  orders  were 
asked  to  obey  the  law  and  secure  a  permit  before  pursuing 
their  vocation.  They  answered  that  the  church  was  above 
the  state,  and  that  they  must  obey  God  rather  than  men.  The 
emperor  advised  them,  from  policy,  at  least,  to  apply  for  a 
license,  which  would  certainly  be  given  to  them,  but  it  is  of 
no  use.  "We  are  citizens  of  heaven,"  declared  the  monks 
and  priests,  "we  do  not  obey  laws,  we  make  them."  What! 
Shall  the  bride  of  Christ  wait  upon  the  secular  powers  for 
permission  to  serve  God!  Abomination!  the  church  that  can 
elect  a  president  and  afterwards  elevate  him  to  the  throne, 
can  afford  to  dispense  with  the  laws  as  it  did  with  the  con- 
stitution. Under  the  republic  it  was  "Long  live  France," 
with  the  Catholics  in  power  it  is  "Long  live  Rome  and 
France." 

Encouraged  by  the  flatteries  of  the  church,  Napoleon  in- 
vited the  pope  to  Paris  to  place  the  crown  upon  his  head,  even 
as  a  former  pope  had  crowned  his  uncle,  the  first  Napoleon, 
in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame.  The  pope  was  beside  himself 
with  joy.  The  opportunity  had  come  for  the  vicar  of  Christ 
to  ask  for  greater  concessions  from  France — yes,  from  that 
infidel  France,  which  had  converted  the  Church  of  St.  Gene- 
vieve  into  a  Pantheon  for  atheist  poets  and  philosophers.  He 
sent  word  to  the  emperor  that  he  would  be  glad  to  go  to 
Paris  to  crown  the  faithful  son  of  the  church,  but — but,  the 
other  Catholic  sovereigns  would  not  like  it.  It  would  make 

14 


them  jealous.  Could  not,  therefore,  Napoelon  come  to  Rome 
to  be  crowned  in  St.  Peter's  cathedral?  But  the  emperor 
realized  that  if  he  went  to  Rome,  he  would  never  be  thought 
as  big  a  man  as  the  first  Napoleon,  who  not  only  brought  the 
vicar  of  Christ  to  Paris,  but  who  also  took  the  crown  from 
his  hands  and  placed  it  himself  upon  his  own  head.  He  wrote 
an  autograph  letter,  which  he  sent  to  the  pope  by  a  clerical 
messenger  of  great  influence,  urging  the  pope  to  come  to 
Paris.  Then  the  pope  threw  aside  the  mask  and  opened  his 
heart  to  the  emperor :  Yes,  I  will  come ;  you  have  done  much 
for  the  church,  for  our  holy  religion,  but  I  will  not  come 
until  you  have  altogether  purged  the  country  of  every  kind 
of  heresy.  How  could  the  emperor  expect  the  vicar  of  Christ 
to  set  his  foot  upon  a  soil  where  Protestant  and  Jew  enjoyed 
equal  freedom  of  worship  with  the  Catholic — listen  to  that ; 
how  could  the  pope  visit  a  country  that  allowed  freedom  of 
thought  and  speech,  and  of  the  press ;  that  allowed  civil  mar- 
riages ;  that  did  not  legally  compel  everybody  to  go  to  mass  on 
Sundays ;  that  did  not  punish  with  pains  and  penalties  all 
those  who  departed  from  the  Catholic  faith  ?  Let  the  em- 
pi  Tor  exalt  Catholicism  over  all  the  sects, — make  it  the  reli- 
gion of  the  state,  abolish  civil  marriages,  refuse  freedom  of 
assembly  to  heretics ;  and  then  will  the  tiara  of  the  pope  lend 
its  eclat  to  the  crown  of  the  emperor.  And  this  is  the  church 
that  shortly  before  had  pledged  its  word  of  honor  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  republic — "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity!"  See 
what  happens  to  the  republic  when  the  Catholics  are  in  power. 
"The  lamb  and  the  lion  shall  lie  down  together."  Yes?  But 
what  will  happen  to  the  lamb?  The  divine  church  and  a 
merely  human  Constitution  can  co-exist  in  the  same  country 
only  on  one  condition — the  "divine"  shall  swallow  up  the 
human.  This  is  what  has  happened  in  Spain ;  this  is  what 
has  happened  in  Italy ;  this  is  what  happened  in  France  under 
the  Catholic  regime,  and  this  is,  in  our  opinion,  what  will 
happen  in  America,  should  Rome  ever  come  to  be  installed 
at  the  White  House  in  Washington!  "Ah,"  you  say,  "the 
Catholics  will  never  do  in  America  the  things  they  have  done 
in  Europe."  No?  Are  there  two  kinds  of  Catholics?  Is  the 

15 


Church  of  Rome  divided  ?  Is  there  any  reason  why  they  should 
hesitate  to  sacrifice  America,  if  need  be,  to  the  "Glory  of  God," 
if  they  did  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  France?  At  any  rate,  all 
one  can  do  is  to  give  warning  and  to  point  to  the  lesson  of  his- 
tory. More  than  that  no  one  can  do,  at  present,  at  least. 

In  this  connection,  I  must  make  an  explanation.  I  respect 
the  right  of  my  neighbor  to  be  a  Catholic.  I  am  ready  to 
fight  for  the  protection  of  his  liberties  as  I  am  for  my  own. 
It  gives  me  real  pleasure  to  admit  also  that  there  are  sincere, 
brave,  noble  and  pure  minded  men  and  women  in  all  the 
churches.  What  I  am  trying  to  do  is  to  prove,  by  citing  his- 
tory, that  a  supernatural  order  and  a  merely  human  state  can 
not  pull  together.  The  attempt  has  always  resulted  disas- 
trously. The  church  is  supernatural,  the  state  is  human. 
Either  the  one  or  the  other  must  rule.  If  the  church  submtis 
to  the  state,  it  ceases  to  be  divine,  for  how  can  a  divine  in- 
stitution be  subject  to  a  man-made  state?  It  would  be  like 
asking  God  to  obey  man.  Besides,  a  state  is  made  up  of 
Jews,  unbelievers,  heretics,  Turks  and  pagans,  as  well  as  of 
Christians.  How  can  such  a  state  make  laws  for  Christians? 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  state  would  be  subject  to 
the  church,  there  will  only  be  the  church.  We  will  in  that 
event  have  no  further  use  for  freedom,  for  instance,  as  we 
would  not  know  what  to  do  with  it,  since  we  can  not  use  it 
to  criticise  or  disagree  with  the  church,  or  help  to  build  up  a 
new  church.  When  we  have  God  for  a  teacher,  or  his  vicar 
on  earth  to  rule  us,  what  would  liberty  be  good  for?  It  fol- 
lows then,  that  the  Catholic  church  can  not  consistently  be 
subject  to  any  secular  power,  being  a  "divine"  institution. 
This  statement  can  not  be  successfully  controverted,  and  if 
so,  we  call  the  attention  of  the  president  of  the  United  States 
to  it,  as  well  as  of  all  those  who  believe  that  it  is  possible 
to  have  Rome  in  the  White  House  and  be  a  republic  at  the 
same  time. 

Nor  should  people  complain  because  I  am  so  earnest  about 
this  matter.  If  it  is  a  virtue  in  the  Catholics  to  labor  night 
and  day  to  convert  this  country  to  their  faith,  as  they  say 
they  are  doing,  why  is  it  improper  in  me  to  try  to  protect 

16 


the  free  institutions  of  the  country?  1  have  not  said  anything 
against  Catholicism  which  Cardinal  Gibbons  has  not  said 
against  what  he  calls  the  infidels.  In  one  of  his  recent  letters 
he  declared  that  no  agnostic  or  atheist  should  be  given  office 
in  this  country.  Why  may  a  cardinal  stand  up  for  his  church, 
and  not  I  for  the  secular  state?  If  the  framers  of  the  Con- 
stitution desired  only  Christians,  or  believers  in  a  church  of 
some  kind  as  office  holders,  they  would  not  have  left  the  name 
of  the  deity  out  of  the  nation's  charter.  According  to  the  Con- 
stitution, the  only  persons  really  eligible  to  office  are  the 
infidels,  or  at  any  rate,  those  only  who  are  willing  to  place  the 
interests  of  the  country  above  even  those  of  God  or  church. 
Are  Catholics  willing  to  do  that?  We  ask  once  more,  are 
Catholics  willing  to  do  that? 

And  we  do  not  have  to  ask  the  future  to  answer  that  ques- 
tion. The  pa>t  has  answered  it  in  unmistakable  fashion.  What 
today  is  the  difference  between  Austria,  for  instance,  and 
America ?  In  Catholic  or  religious  Austria,  the  interest  of 
the  church  is  above  the  rights  of  man.  It  is  well  for  religion 
to  be  free,  but  it  is  not  free  in  Austria:  it  is  well  for  thought 
and  speech  to  be  free,  but  they  are  not  free  in  Austria.  Why? 
llecause  the  interests  of  the  church  come  first.  In  secular 
America,  religion  is  free,  thought  and  speech  are  free.  Why? 
The  right*  of  man  come  first  in  a  secular  state.  The  church 
has  the  power  to  make  an  America  out  of  Austria.  But  will 
-In-  do  it?  Yet  if  she  had  the  power  to  make  an  Austria  out 
of  America  would  she  hesitate  to  do  it?  Americans  beware! 

But  let  us  return  to  Napoleon  III  and  Pius  IX.  Encour- 
aged and  emboldened  by  his  successes,  and  his  increasing 
power  over  the  emperor,  as  well  as  by  his  command  of  the 
resources  .»f  1  Vance  for  his  own  throne,  Pius  IX  about  this 
time  promulgated  the  famous  dogma  of  the  infallibility  of 
the  pope.  Until  then,  the  church,  or  ecclesiastical  councils, 
shared  infallibility  with  the  pope,  but  henceforth  the  pope 
alone  shall  be  infallible,  and  councils  and  conclaves  would  no 
longer  be  needed  to  decide  religious  questions.  Thus,  to  the 
principle  of  absolutism  was  given  a  new  endorsement.  As 
soon  as  he  became  infallible,  the  pope  announced  a  new  dogma 

17 


— the  immaculate  conception  of  the  virgin.  The  church  had 
never  held  that  Mary  herself,  like  her  divine  son,  was  born 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  Pope  Pius  declared  she  was,  and  his 
word  became  the  belief  of  the  church  universal.  About  this 
time  Mary  began  to  appear  to  shepherds  and  young  girls  in 
the  fields,  confirming  the  word  of  the  pope  that  she  was  born 
of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

At  the  commencement  of  1854  there  appeared  a  pamphlet 
by  an  abbot  who  was  not  yet  ready  to  accept  the  virgin  birth 
of  Mary.  The  writer  charged  that  a  certain  woman  of  Gre- 
noble was  personating  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God  in  these 
reputed  appearances  to  shepherds  and  young  people.  Mile, 
de  Lamerliere,  the  accused  woman,  sued  the  abbot  for  defama- 
tion of  character.  To  the  profound  regret  of  the  church,  the 
young  lady  lost  her  suit.  From  that  time,  her  name  became 
"The  Apparition !"  The  church  gave  her  a  famous  advocate, 
Berryer,  to  appeal  the  case ;  the  abbot  was  defended  by  Jules 
Favre.  The  higher  court  of  Grenoble  confirmed  the  decision 
of  the  lower  court,  which  under  ordinary  circumstances  would 
have  put  an  end  to  the  new  dogma.  But  it  did  not.  The 
church  was  in  politics  and  had  therefore  many  ways  of  getting 
over  a  little  embarrassment  like  that. 

But  the  church  did  more  than  promulgate  new  dogmas. 
About  this  time,  in  Bologna,  the  little  child  of  a  Jew,  Mar- 
tara,  suddenly  disappeared  from  home.  Careful  search  by 
the  distracted  father  proved  that  the  priests  had  carried  him 
off  to  bring  him  up  as  a  Roman  Catholic.  The  anti-clerical 
party  poured  forth  hot  shot  at  a  church  that  would  steal,  not 
only  the  goods,  but  also  the  children,  whenever  it  had  the 
power  to  break  into  people's  homes.  Even  the  emperor 
pleaded  with  the  pope  for  the  return  of  the  child  to  its  out- 
raged parents.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  The  church,  the  Holy 
Catholic  church,  was  in  the  saddle,  and  she  would  ride  the 
nation  to  please  herself.  The  pope  replied  that  as  this  was 
a  matter  pertaining  to  the  salvation  of  the  child's  soul  it  was 
a  spiritual  question,  and  therefore  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  state.  Shortly  after  another  boy  disappeared  precisely  in 
the  same  manner,  and  was  discovered  in  the  Catholic  seminary. 

18 


The  French  ambassador  pleaded  with  the  pope  as  before,  but 
the  church  was  a  divine  institution,  and  the  secular  authori- 
ties were  guilty  of  impertinence  in  attempting  to  criticise  her 
conduct  or  to  give  her  advice.  It  was  impossible  to  live  next 
door  to  such  a  power  peaceably.  In  every  Catholic  country 
there  were  two  kingdoms,  the  one  within  the  other;  two  sov- 
ereigns, the  one  the  rival  of  the  other.  And  the  result  was,  as 
we  said  it  would  be  a  moment  ago,  the  "divine"  church  swal- 
lowed up  the  secular  state  whenever  it  could. 

In  1864  Pius  IX  issued  his  famous  encyclical,  in  which  he 
boldly  condemned  the  "pernicious"  doctrine  of  the  rights  of 
man.  For  the  edification  of  Americans  who  hope  some  day 
to  see  a  Catholic  in  the  White  House  at  Washington,  let  us 
quote  one  or  two  passages  from  this  papal  bull: 

"\\V  (the  pope)  can  not  pass  over  in  silence  the  audacity 
of  those  who  teach  that  except  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
church,  the  decrees  of  the  Apostolic  See  are  not  binding  upon 
the  conscience."  Which  means  that  the  pope  must  be  obeyed 
in  secular  as  well  as  in  religious  matters.  Americans  beware ! 

"There  are  also  those  who  have  the  audacity  to  declare 
that  the  supreme  authority  given  by  Jesus  Christ  to  the  Apos- 
tolic See  is  subject  to  the  secular  authorities,"  which  means 
that  the  pope  is  the  real  head  of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  the 
church  and  that  she  will  not  obey  any  man-made  constitutions. 

"Our  predecessor  of  blessed  memory,  Gregory  XVI,  de- 
scribed as  a  madness*  the  doctrine  of  liberty  of  conscience 
and  of  worship,"  which  means  that  with  the  Catholic  church 
in  power  there  will  be  only  one  church.  Then  the  encyclical 
proceeds  to  enumerate  the  errors  which  all  Catholics  con- 
demn: 

Error  XVIII.  To  say  that  Protestantism  is  a  branch  of 
the  true  Christion  church,  and  that  a  Protestant  could  be  as 
pleasing  to  God  as  a  Catholic. 

Error  XXI.  That  the  Catholic  church  has  no  right  to 
call  itself  the  only  true  church. 


*De  delire. 

19 


Error  XXIV.  That  the  church  has  no  right  to  resort  to 
force. 

Error  XXVII.  That  the  holy  ministers  of  the  church  have 
no  right  to  interfere  in  matters  temporal  (this  proves  the 
charge  that  the  Catholic  church  is  in  politics). 

Error  XXXVI.  That  there  can  be  state  churches  in  any 
country  other  than  the  Catholic  church. 

Error  XLVII.  That  the  schools  should  be  independent  of 
the  authority  of  the  church. 

Error  LV.  That  the  state  ought  to  be  separated  from  the 
church.* 

There  is  much  in  the  passages  quoted  to  make  every  lover 
of  free  institutions  to  ponder  over  seriously  and  long. 

But  Jet  us  hasten  to  the  concluding  chapter  of  that  period 
in  history  reaching  from  1848  to  1870,  with  which  we  have 
been  dealing.  The  third  Napoleon  began  to  realize  that  after 
all  he  was  a  mere  figure-head  in  the  empire  which  he  had 
created  by  violating  his  own  oath  and  abrogating  the  con- 
stitution. The  real  sovereign  of  the  French  was  Pope  Pius 
IX.  In  other  words,  the  relation  between  pope  and  emperor 
was  that  which  the  bible  suggests  should  exist  between  hus- 
band and  wife.  The  pope  was  the  husband,  the  emperor  was 
the  wife,  and,  as  commanded  in  the  bible,  a  wife  must  obey 
her  husband.  Napoleon  more  than  once  made  attempts  to  free 
himself  from  the  ever-tightening  grip  of  the  pope,  but  only 
to  find  that  he  was  helpless.  For  instance  he  had  written  to 
the  pope  about  reforms  in  the  papal  states,  urging  the  Holy 
Father  to  curb  the  abuses  of  the  clergy  and  to  introduce  mod- 
ern methods  in  the  government  of  his  territory.  But  he  was 
compelled  to  apologize  for  presuming  to  give  advice  to  the 
vicar  of  Christ.  On  another  occasion,  the  emperor  was  fool- 
ish enough  to  suggest  that  Frenchmen  must  obey  the  laws 
of  their  own  country  before  those  of  a  foreign  power.  Did 
he  mean  Rome,  by  "a  foreign  power?''  He  was  clearly  made 
to  understand  that  the  Catholics  in  France  were  first  the  sub- 


*Encyclique  Addressee  par  N.  S.  P.  Le  Pope  Pie  IX.  For  the  sake 
of  brevity  we  have  not  translated  the  above  passages  in  their  entirety, 
but  their  meaning  has  not  been  sacrificed  to  brevity. 


jects  of  the  pope,  and  then  the  subjects  of  the  emperor. 
Despite  these  failures  to  free  himself  from  the  authority  of  the 
church,  the  signs  of  insubordination  on  the  part  of  the  em- 
peror increased.  Napoleon's  principal  weakness  was  vacilla- 
tion. He  never  finished  an  undertaking.  His  resolutions  were 
like  fire-rockets,  they  fell  to  the  ground  as  soon  as  they  shot 
up  in  the  air.  Vacillation  means  weakness.  Napoleon  after 
all  was  like  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  pope.  The  pope  had 
made  him,  and  the  pope  could  unmake  him. 

To  be  just  to  the  emperor,  we  must  also  make  allowances 
for  the  influence  which  the  queen.  Kmpress  Eugenie,  exerted 
over  him.  She  was  a  Spaniard,  very  worldly,  and  yet  very 
pious.  She  was  one  of  those  women  to  whom  the  priest  was 
God  in  miniature. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  Napoleon's  son,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  prince  and  presumptive  heir  to  the  throne,  at  whose  birth 
the  pope  had  sent  Eugenie  the  golden  rose,  was  an  avowed 
free  thinker.  Napoleon  now  sided  with  his  queen,  and  now 
with  his  son.  He  had  no  mind  of  his  own.  It  was  in  one 
of  his  independent  moods  that  he  decided  to  make  a  final 
effort  to  shake  off  Rome  from  his  shoulders.  He  entered  into 
a  secret  arrangement  with  Victor  Emmanuel  of  Italy,  who 
was  then  seeking  to  seize  Rome  as  the  capital  of  United  Italy, 
to  help  humiliate  Pius  IX.  Napoleon  promised  to  let  Gari- 
baldi march  upon  Rome.  From  the  moment  that  the  Catho- 
lics discovered  this  plot  to  rob  the  pope  of  the  city  of  Rome, 
Napoleon  was  doomed.  The  church  not  only  showed  its  dis- 
pleasure plainly,  but  it  made  it  also  evident  that  it  would  not 
accept  any  apologies  this  time.  Napoleon's  resolution  sick- 
ened again.  He  became  alarmed  for  his  throne.  He  saw 
the  sword  of  Damocles  hanging  over  his  head  by  a  single 
hair.  He  hastened  to  explain,  but  the  priests  who  had  called 
him  a  Constantine,  and  a  Charlemagne,  now  called  him  a 
Nero,  and  a  Pontius  Pilate.  Like  Judas,  he  had  betrayed  his 
master.  It  was  in  the  vain  hope  of  once  more  swinging  around 
the  Catholic  world  to  his  support  that  the  emperor  tapped 
the  resources  of  his  country  to  advance  the  Catholic  faith. 
Bent  upon  this  errand  he  sent  an  expedition  to  Syria,  another 


to  China,  another  to  Mexico.  Everywhere  France  must  be- 
come the  defender  of  the  Catholic  church.  It  was  not  to  the 
interest  of  France  to  waste  its  substance  in  a  sort  of  Catholic 
crusade,  tramping  from  east  to  west,  for  the  glory  of  the 
church,  but  it  was  only  by  sacrificing  France  to  the  Vatican  that 
Napoleon  hoped  to  change  the  frown  of  the  pope  into  a 
smile.  Finally  it  occurred  to  the  emperor  that  a  war  with 
Germany,  the  rising  Protestant  power  of  the  north,  would 
restore  his  popularity  with  the  church.  He  would  humiliate 
Germany,  overthrow  the  iron  chancellor,  and  convert  Berlin 
into  a  Catholic  capital. 

Such  a  conquest  would  give  Catholicism  an  immense  pres- 
tige, and  it  would  make  of  Napoleon  really  another  Charle- 
magne. The  war  was  declared.  It  was  an  act  of  sheer  mad- 
ness. The  whole  nation  was  going  to  be  thrown  into  the 
mouth  of  the  cannon  to  please  Rome  and  to  regain  her  favor 
for  France.  But  it  was  survive  or  perish  with  Napoleon. 

He  did  not  have  the  shadow  of  a  foundation  for  a  quarrel 
with  Germany.  That  country  was  willing  to  withdraw  the  can- 
didacy of  a  Hohenzollern  for  the  Spanish  throne.  But  Napo- 
leon demanded  more.  France  had  been  injured,  he  declared, 
and  Germany  must  be  punished  for  it.  It  must  be  stated  that 
Napoleon  counted  on  the  co-operation  of  the  King  of  Italy 
in  the  attack  upon  Germany.  But  when  the  war  was  declared 
Victor  Emmanuel  demanded  that  before  he  can  send  an  Italian 
army  to  the  aid  of  the  French,  Napoleon  must  recall  his  sol- 
diers from  Rome.  The  French  were  still  keeping  an  army 
in  Rome  to  maintain  the  pope  upon  his  throne.  Victor  Em- 
manuel asked  the  French  to  vacate  Rome.  This  Napoleon 
was  willing  enough  to  do,  but  the  Catholics  in  France  threat- 
ened to  "boycott"  the  emperor  if  he  left  the  pope  to  his  fate. 
It  was  a  critical  situation.  The  Italians  would  not  budge 
unless  the  French  soldiers  were  recalled  from  Rome,  and  the 
French  would  not  support  the  emperor  if  they  were.  In  the 
meantime,  the  victorious  Germans,  were  before  the  walls  of 
Sedan.  Anon,  the  cannon's  roar  was  heard  in  the  streets  of 
Paris.  A  wave  of  blood,  red  and  palpitating,  was  sweeping 
onward  upon  the  fair  land  of  France.  The  nation  was  upon 


her  knees,  mangled,  bleeding,  torn,  ruined.  The  "faithful" 
were  marching  the  streets  with  "God  save  Rome  and  France." 
It  was  too  late.  The  church  in  politics  cost  France  the  slaugh- 
ter of  her  armies,  the  criminal  waste  of  her  savings,  the  de- 
struction of  her  cities,  the  loss  of  two  of  her  provinces — Alsace 
and  Lorraine — and  imposed  upon  her  a  blood  tax,  the  enorm- 
ity of  which  was  appalling.  Americans  beware ! 

And  if  France  did  not  go  the  way  of  Spain,  it  was  because, 
.hen  she  leturned  to  the  republican  form  of  government  once 
more,  she  put  no  faith  in  the  professions  of  loyalty  to  the 
republic  by  the  priests,  and  refused  to  consider  their  candidate 
to  the  presidency.  By  ousting  the  church  from  politics  in 
France,  that  unhappy  country  has  recovered  her  health,  has 
entered  the  path  of  peace  and  progress,  and  is  today  one  of 
the  freest  and  foremost  nations  of  the  world. 

What  can  the  church  do  for  a  people  ?    Look  at  Spain. 

What  can  a  country  do  without  the  church?  Look  at  re- 
generated France. 


A  Few  of 

Mangasarian's  Publications 

The  Martyrdom  of  Hypatia 

Morality  Without  God. 

How  the  Bible  Was  Invented. 

The  Rationalism  of  Shakespeare. 

Bryan  on  Religion. 

Christian  Science  Analyzed  and  Answered. 

What  Was  the  Religion  of  Shakespeare? 

Debate  with  a  Presbyterian.    Prelude:  Roosevelt. 

Christian  Science — A  Comedy  in  Four  Acts. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  in  Geneva  Under  Calvin. 

Woman  Suffrage;    or  the  Child-Bearing  Woman 

and  Civilization. 
The  Church  in  Politics — Americans,  Beware! 

10  Cents  per  Copy 


Pearls— Brave  Thoughts  from  Brave  Minds. 
The     Mangasarian  -  Crapsey     Debate     on     the 
Historicity  of  Jesus. 

25    Cents  per  Copy 


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— Literary  Guide,  London,  England. 


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